Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. Lois Wright Hawkes, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Computer Science. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 25, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. Lois Wright Hawkes, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Computer Science. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 25, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.

The study seeks to analyze the &ldquo / Tulip Revolution&rdquo / , its reasons and outcomes. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, newly independent Central Asian countries / Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan emerged in the world politics as independent sates. However, used to be parts of big complex system of former Soviet Union and being lack of government experience in politic and economic area made them to dependent on external actors. One of the main external actors has become United States with its promotion of democracy and liberalization, while the Russia was challenging not to lose its political and economical influence in these states. As a result of these external powers&rsquo / policy, within the time the leaders of these states found themselves in the complex choices, pro-Western or pro-Russian. Therefore political and economic developments of these states have become vulnerable. For these reasons the &lsquo / coloured revolutions&rsquo / in post-Soviet states, which was the struggle between the pro-Western and pro-Russian elites, were not a coincidence. The study argues that although &ldquo / Tulip Revolution&rdquo / had similarities in its occurrence with previous &lsquo / colourful revolutions&rsquo / the main reasons of the &ldquo / Tulip Revolution&rdquo / were the internal reasons, external reasons were only the accelerator factors. Analyzing of these reasons is the main goal of thesis.

Current surface mine reclamation in Appalachia involves returning the land to approximate original contour by grading the surface and planting grasses and early-successional trees. This results in a greatly altered ecosystem compared to the native forest that was there prior to mining. The reclaimed land is usually degraded economically and environmentally because mine soils are usually less productive than the native soils, and because the mined sites do not provide the same level of ecosystem services. This research addressed constraints to the return of the native ecosystem by assessing how mine spoil properties and treatments affect native tree species and soil microorganisms. A 4x2x3 factorial greenhouse experiment was used to examine the growth of one-year-old Fraxinus americana, Quercus rubra, and Liriodendron tulipifera as well as herbaceous plant occurrence and microbial biomass and activity. Three mine spoils, brown, weathered sandstone (BWS), white, unweathered sandstone (WUS), and gray, unweathered shale (GUH) were compared with undisturbed forest topsoil (UFT) to determine their suitability for tree growth. Half of each of the four media was inoculated with a 2.5-cm layer of topsoil. BWS was the optimal spoil material for the growth of F. americana, Q. rubra and microbial populations. Foliar nutrient analysis indicated that L. tulipifera was highly dependent on nutrient levels and was unable to grow well on any of the spoil types due to deficiencies. Inoculation with topsoil increased tree growth on the GUH spoil, and increased microbial activity and presence of herbaceous plants across all growth media. The field study was used to determine what spoil properties most influenced three-year-old Quercus alba growth. This information was used to test a mine quality classification model. Northeast facing sites with sandy spoils high in nutrients, moderate in pH, and high in microbial populations were optimal for tree growth. These variables explained 52% of the variation in tree growth. Tree growth was also highly correlated with tree foliar nutrient levels, further suggesting that tree growth was influenced by spoil nutrients. Microbial biomass and dehydrogenase production were also regressed against soil properties and were dependant on a moderate pH, high nitrogen levels, and low salt content. These variables explained 53% of the variability in microbial biomass and 50% of the variability in enzyme production. These studies suggest that tree growth and soil microbial populations are closely linked, and both are affected by mine spoil properties. During mined land reclamation, mine spoils conducive to tree growth should be selected if return of the native ecosystem is the reclamation goal. / Master of Science

This dissertation aims to uncover the main parameters, the decisive dynamics within Kyrgyz politics not only through an examination of the socio-political context of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, but also through an analysis of the events that came to be known as the &lsquo / Tulip Revolution&rsquo / . It examines the general and immediate contexts, course of events, dynamics and implications of the &lsquo / Tulip Revolution&rsquo / in order to understand what kind of dynamics account for the continuing instability in Kyrgyzstan in its aftermath. Despite a variety of factors can be considered as relevant, this study argues that the continuity in the decisive role of informal dynamics in shaping Kyrgyz politics accounts for the continuing instability in Kyrgyz politics. Bases of the informal dynamics are embedded in Kyrgyzstan&rsquo / s historical context and they are strengthened by its transitional context / they played decisive roles in shaping the course of events during the &lsquo / Tulip Revolution&rsquo / and their decisive role remained as such in its aftermath. Not only various developments in Bakiev era, but also the events that led to the end of it provide reinforcing evidence for such continuity. Hence, the &lsquo / Tulip Revolution&rsquo / did not bring about an &lsquo / impetus for democratization&rsquo / , but indicated to an &lsquo / impetus for the decisive role of informal dynamics&rsquo / in shaping Kyrgyz politics, which paves the way for the persistent instability in the country.

In the rural areas of Madagascar only 29% of the population has access to clean water and 10% has access to improved sanitation. It has been estimated that environmental risk factors, such as inadequate access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation, are responsible for 94% of the diarrheal disease burden. This study was focused on testing a point-of-use technology called the Tulip filter, which is a siphon ceramic candle filter impregnated with silver. The purpose is to assess its feasibility for implementation in rural regions of Madagascar through a laboratory study performed at the University of South Florida. The study tested the Tulip filters for turbidity, total coliform, and E. coli removal for various types of water. Each filter processed synthetic water classified as control (tap water, <1 >NTU), low turbidity (5-7 NTU), medium turbidity (25-35 NTU), or high turbidity (60-80 NTU). Approximately once every 100 L the filters processed pond water to test coliform removal. Furthermore, the pthesis size distribution was measured to analyze the effectiveness of filter to remove various pthesis sizes. Two of the seven Tulip filters tested had some quality control issues with the glue connecting the ceramic candle to the plastic cap and failed at 350 L. Of the functioning filters, the turbidity removal ranged from 93% to 98% with none of the 779 samples taken from 4 filters above the WHO recommended 5 NTU for drinking water. The log removal of total coliforms was about 3.90 to 4.16 and achieved an average of 1 CFU/100mL of E. coli in the filtered water. WHO guidelines consider water with 1-10 CFU/100 mL a "low risk" and all but one of the working filters had E. coli and total coliform concentrations within, or below, this range for all samples (n=20 for each filter). The filters also showed an average of 96% removal of pthesiss of all size ranging from 0.5 to 10 µm. This study finds that the Tulip filter is an appropriate of point-of-use technology that enables rural areas access to "low risk" water, at a low cost and with minimal maintenance. This study also reinforces the importance of adding silver or another biocide to ceramic filters because pthesiss of sizes up to 10 µm are able to pass through the filter. This is particularly a problem because pathogens can range from 0.01 µm to 100 µm.